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The moment you realize you’re doing the right thing in life is a special one. It’s not a frequent enough occasion (at least not for me). I stumble, literally and figuratively, make mistakes and then do my best not to repeat them.
Sometimes I’m even successful. Read more “Starting the Sustainable Seafood Conversation Early”
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Lobster trap? Check.
Gillnet? Check.
Turtle excluder device? Check.
I’m going in.
Tomorrow One Fish Foundation is headed to the Mahoney Middle School in South Portland to talk to 6th grade Geography students about sustainable seafood.
I think back to the moment a couple of years ago when I first thought about telling students where seafood comes from and how it gets on their plates. I had just served as an “expert” listening to the in-depth sustainability expeditions of 9th graders at the Casco Bay High School for Expeditionary Learning in Portland Maine. The school steeps students in long-term, real-life projects called expeditions, which are focused on a single topic.
I was blown away.
One minute into the first student’s description of his research into the 2014 closure of the Maine shrimp season I realized this curriculum was more creative, more compelling and more rigorous than anything I faced in the early 80s. The student eloquently and accurately explained the reason for the closure – an Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission ASMFC decision based on the precipitous drop in landed shrimp in 2012 and 2013. He also pointed to research from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute and other sites suggesting that warmer water fueled by climate change, along with a decrease in phytoplankton and increased predation may have affected reproduction and survival rates.
This 14-year-old had done much of the same research I had done, and he had the interest and drive to keep digging for answers to questions like: What is the cause? What is the sustainable solution? How do we learn from past lessons?
I came away from the experience enlightened, jealous (that I didn’t have that experience in school) and motivated. I’d been writing about sustainable seafood and sustainable fisheries for four years. Why not bring those messages into classrooms where kids are beginning to ask questions about where food comes from, and what they can do to learn more?
So here I am, putting the finishing touches on a lesson plan that will ask 10- and 11 year-olds to think about how their local geography dictates what seafood is available to them, how some of that seafood is caught, and which seafood is abundant. Most importantly, I want to get them confident enough to ask questions in stores and restaurants, and to perhaps even discuss with their families why making sustainable choices is important.
If I can achieve that, I’ll have succeeded.
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Are we really super predators? That is, are we so far up at the top of the food chain that we dictate the health and survivability of different species based on our collective eating patterns? Read more “Eating Smaller Fish is Better? New Research Says Yes”
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The proposal was to create an aquaponics operation that would raise fish and lettuce in a clean environment. No hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides. The system would feature a continuously cleaned tank for the fish, filtering the waste into another system that converts the waste into nitrogen that plants floating on Styrofoam flats in a separate tank would use to grow.
The goal was to come up with a community-oriented operation that would “grow” sustainably raised seafood and produce accessible to the community. Farm to table. Sustainable.
The presenter was a freshman at Casco Bay High School, in Portland, Me., and he was speaking to an audience of about 35 people yesterday.
For the second year in a row, I had the honor to serve as an expert panelist witnessing the presentations from promising freshmen, who proposed a variety of sustainable food solutions for the Portland area. I was once again impressed by the depth of their research, the level of investment in their projects and the overall quality of the proposed solutions.
One student proposed farming blue mussels near net pen salmon to filter the salmon waste, which otherwise would negatively effect the surrounding ecosystem in high concentrations. Essentially, the mussels would serve as a natural filtration system. Other students called for a variety of management measures to mitigate overfishing, while also proposing funded retirement plans to support out-of-work fishermen.
Some students promoted increased development and use of community gardens to help solve food insecurity challenges. This solution would also shorten the distance from farm to table, minimize the use of harmful pesticides and improve the quality of the food we eat. Other students called for increased education about national and local hunger issues, and the need to teach students the importance of growing and supporting organically grown produce.
While none of these solutions are truly groundbreaking, they are the culmination of several months of hard work. Students immersed themselves in their projects, called expeditions. They identified a particular food sustainability challenge, dove into the research, and picked out workable solutions for their communities. They took the time to familiarize themselves with the key issues so they could intelligently answer questions about the projects.
Perhaps most encouraging, these students have now become evangelists for the food sustainability issues that affect them and/or their communities. They have come up with answers that could work. They are thinking for themselves.
I had to remind myself that these are freshmen.
Seafood sustainability is a complex challenge with global, national, regional and local implications. There is no one black-and-white solution. We all need to think about it. And we need to pour as much energy, enthusiasm and creativity as possible into working solutions.
So I am encouraged and rejuvenated when I see the efforts of 9th graders who demonstrate that they too have a stake in the sustainability movement.
